Watching NuWho

[Jock Ewing Fan]

What does Disney have to do with Doctor Who?

Disney is involved in producing Doctor Who now. It will be aired on Disney Plus.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Most things about '80s Who didn't work for me, not least the casting of the companions. You'll see for yourself when you get there. Or maybe you'll just absolutely love it!

The eighties had peaks and valleys to be sure, but I liked most of it. Castrovalva, Earthshock, Caves of Androzani are among the best in the series history.

The Eighties had peaks and valleys to be sure, but much of it was still excellent. "Castrovalva", "Earthshock" and "Caves of Androzani" are among the all time classics.
I would add "Attack of the Cybermen", "Vengeance on Varos", "Revelation of the Daleks", "The Ultimate Foe" and "Remembrance of the Daleks" as great viewing.
Patrick Troughton returned in "The Two" Doctors", which was uneven, but still enjoyable. Tom Baker's final season was in the 80's, with "Stae of Decay", "Keeper of Traken" and "Logopolis" as highpoints. Anthony Ainley's "New" Master was superb at first, The Black Guardian returned for a trilogy, and "Fenric" was well regarded.

The 80's had much to be appreciated. Even at its worst, it was still way better than the dismal Chibnall/Whitaker era. Thankfully, RTD's return and Gatwa's Doctor seem to be reinvigorating the show

 

[James from London]

"Castrovalva", "Earthshock" and "Caves of Androzani" are among the all time classics.

I remember really enjoying one of those, and sort of tolerating the other two.

I would add "Attack of the Cybermen", "Vengeance on Varos", "Revelation of the Daleks", "The Ultimate Foe" and "Remembrance of the Daleks" as great viewing.

I enjoyed three of those; the other two were a bit of a struggle to get through.

Patrick Troughton returned in "The Two" Doctors", which was uneven, but still enjoyable

That's one of the two Doctor Who stories I've seen that I couldn't finish.

Tom Baker's final season was in the 80's, with "Stae of Decay", "Keeper of Traken" and "Logopolis" as highpoints.

I loved Tom Baker so I pretty much enjoyed all his episodes.

the dismal Chibnall/Whitaker era.

That period has really grown on me. I've re-watched all of the pre-Flux episodes and appreciated it much more the second time around.

 

[Oh!Carol Christmasson]

I have no problem with a female Doctor. This series is going on forever so it doesn't surprise me that they would do something radical just to keep it fresh.
But of all the controversies of late, the statement that a wheelchair-bound Davros is no longer considered politically correct really takes the cake.
Who in their right mind would associate this fantastical creature with real-life invalids?

 

[James from London]

Who in their right mind would associate this fantastical creature with real-life invalids?

Without giving it much thought, I guess I’ve always assumed that Davros taps into a primal fear or revulsion of physical deformity. I guess a lot of monsters do. It’s part of what makes him so brilliantly effective.

 

[Oh!Carol Christmasson]

I don't have enough knowledge about Doctor Who to say what does and doesn't make sense, or what kind of things would betray the origins.
To me it looks like a series in which nothing is carved in stone, and if a story explains why Davros can walk or why he looks less horrific then I would simply take it at face value. And maybe I don't mind the political correctness itself as long as I'm not too aware of it.
Unfortunately I stumbled upon Russell Davies' statement and I thought, this looks like Doctor Who plotline - a writer possessed by the evil spirit of Mary Whitehouse.

But anyway, I'm not there yet so it's not going to spoil my fun, and there's a lot of fun in the two-part premiere of series 9, which is about.....Davros!
And he looks healthy and he can walk, but that's the boy version of Davros, long before he became one of TV's most monstrous arch-villains.
It takes some events to set up the story; Master Missy has got the Doctor's confession thing, well, it looked like a thing but I guess it's the same idea as the deathbed priest.
Clara needs to get involved in the most convoluted way and after that we see the Doctor playing a rockstar who introduces the word "dude" to medieval language.
The confession device returns briefly at the end of the story only to be dismissed with a Doctor joke (and could this really be the end of the sonic screwdriver?).

The actual story begins with the arrival of the fabulously frightening creature Colony Sarff.

And he isn't even the main villain.

Missy has become sort of a frenemy, and I think the only reason she's in the camp of the heroes is because she won't let anyone destroy the Doctor unless she does it herself. There are shades of River Song except that she's can't be trusted of course.
Michelle Gomez portrays Missy brilliantly but combined with the madness of the other Time Lord it would be too much goodness to have her in every episode.

The Doctor/Davros dynamic almost makes it look like the very final episode but at the same time I didn't believe that the Daleks would never return again.
They are defeated in this episode but they have been defeated before so that doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.
I think it mostly serves as a reminder of both the cleverness and the wholesomeness of the Doctor, it's the kind of story that makes me feel like having my cake and eat it.
It's another great series opener for the Twelfth Doctor that will likely rank in the top 5.

 

[James from London]

I stumbled upon Russell Davies' statement

I haven't read it but I've seen reactions to it here and there. I'm inclined to take it with a pinch of salt: RTD is a showman, a provocateur: he knows full well that anything he says that's remotely controversial will result in lots of attention and publicity for the series, which is part of his job. So I regard it as I would any other piece of clickbait, i.e., I try to resist clicking on it thereby taking the bait.

if a story explains why Davros can walk or why he looks less horrific then I would simply take it at face value.

Yeah, me too, hopefully.

I'm not there yet so it's not going to spoil my fun

Good.

I read a very interesting piece this morning about Taylor Swift that weirdly made me think of Doctor Who. I came to Swifty relatively late, so I feel like I'm forever playing catch up with all her songs, same as I do with Bob Dylan. They've both produced so much great stuff and I'll never fully get on top of it all, which in a way is quite nice because it always feels fresh and new. I'm kind of the opposite of the fans who, encouraged by Swift, pore over her lyrics to decipher precisely who and what they're about. It's fun to hear or read their theories (or rather, it's fun to hear or read a music writer writing about their theories), but I can't retain any of that stuff when I'm listening to the songs themselves. And I think I prefer it that way: I don't want to have too much extraneous knowledge getting in the way of me experiencing the music. The same goes for Who, especially the new episodes. I want to know as little as possible going in so I can be surprised by everything.

 

[Oh!Carol Christmasson]

I came to Swifty relatively late, so I feel like I'm forever playing catch up with all her songs

I have yet to discover her, she might be a person from the (my) future, like River Song.
Every time I read her name it immediately conjures up the image of Scarlett Johansson, I don't know if there is a connection or not.

pore over her lyrics to decipher precisely who and what they're about

Could there be something more important than Pam Ewing's or Richard Channing's motives for doing what they did and didn't?

I don't want to have too much extraneous knowledge getting in the way of me experiencing the music.

That's why I'm always very wary of behind-the-scenes featurettes about films. And while I usually forget all about that when I watch the film again, it's just much easier when you don't have to forget it at all.

Meanwhile, I've arrived at episode 10, just the beginning of it, and the nickname "local knowledge" was funny enough to look it up. I couldn't find anything except for what I expected it to be but somehow that makes the Doctor's nickname for Rigsey even more...I don't know. Something.
The second story of this series is also a double episode but personally I don't think it was worth it.
It's OK but nothing special, it all looks like stuff that had been scrapped from previous scripts, however, I had not expected the story to end with an explanation so incomprehensible that it ruined all the fun it did have to offer retrospectively.
Everything would have been fine if he hadn't said anything about the ghost which was a hologram ghost because blablabla.

Then we get the Vikings episode which apparently was a great opportunity to show that the Doctor can translate baby language. Please, no, never again.
As with the battle against the Fisher King, the Doctor gives a song and dance about the danger of the ripple effects and the disastrous waves BUT he's going to fight the future anyway because it's important! The Twelfth Doctor has mellowed significantly in his second series, but this kind of melodramatic bombast doesn't suit him at all.
I felt myself slightly defeated but continued watching, a very wise decision because the Zygons story proved to be a cracker. I kinda wish it had been three episodes.
The cinematography, the repulsive creatures, the continuation from the previous Zygon story, the two boxes with nothing special in it (but no-one can remember that), Clara's bizarre world inside the Zygon pod - it's all fantastic.

Excitingly, it's followed by another gem of an episode, SLEEP NO MORE.
Who needs aliens when people themselves continue to come up with the most bizarre and creepy inventions.

Even something as simle as a telephone, to communicate directly with another person who's not in the same room, still bewilders me.
The sandmen story is straightforward and (almost) self-explanatory, but it's filmed in such way that it still looks very twisted.
The final diary scene is properly horrifc and for a moment I feared that Doctor Who was doing an unexpected 3D stunt and have the hand "reach out" through my computer screen. Great stuff.

 

[Oh!Carol Christmasson]

The last three episodes are very strange because it's essentially one story with three differently themed chapters.
FACE THE RAVEN is in Harry Potter style and it ends with Clara's death, I just couldn't believe that this happened in such a blunt way.
The story continues with the Doctor trapped inside confession hell and this would have been a terrific episode anyway, but with the depressing feeling of Clara's death hanging over it it really challenges the boundaries of sci-fi TV entertainment.
The third part brings us to Gallifrey and it looks as if something super-outrageous is going to happen (I couldn't imagine what that would be) but instead it brings closure for the Doctor and his companion.
There have been great companion endings before but this one made me feel dizzy and disorientated. A very wild ride indeed.

Two Christmas episodes are waiting for me to finish series 9 and I thought Prime had made a mistake, but no, there was a whole year without Doctor Who.
What did the fans think of that?

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Hearing that Jinx Monsoon is playing the Maestro.
It seems almost too obvious that the role is the Master.
I would prefer a character more like Roger Delgado's unrivaled original,
or Anthony Ainley's early performances (Logopolis, Castrovalva)
The Master work's best, IMHO, when calculating, manipulative and understated.

 

[Oh!Carol Christmasson]

And so my journey into the Whoniverse revival has come to an end.
I don't have a lot to say about series 10 and that's why I'm not going to do it.
My first new episode will be William Hartnell's very first adventure and that's all very exciting. Nevertheless, I need some time to regenerate my eagerness so maybe I'll dive back in some other shows first. Everything is so good and entertaining which makes it very difficult to choose.

 

[James from London]

Gosh!

 

[Oh!Carol Christmasson]

Yes. It's weird that it doesn't feel "unknown" anymore. On the other hand, any weird feeling from watching Doctor Who has to be a good one.

 

[James from London]

William Hartnell's very first adventure and that's all very exciting.

It is very exciting ... but also quite boring in places. Just to warn you!

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

It is very exciting ... but also quite boring in places. Just to warn you!

The first episode itself is a terrific piece of television. Some find the other three episodes a bit middling, I however love the story.

 

[Oh!Carol Christmasson]

It is very exciting ... but also quite boring in places. Just to warn you!

I think I meant to say "excited about watching Classic Who in general" rather than the excitement of a particular story.

If I understand correctly, the programme was originally meant to be some kind of semi-educational entertainment rather than a flashy science fiction series.
Perhaps it was inevitable that the oldest of the revival Doctors took some of that classic premise, as we see Peter Capaldi teaching us the values of tolerance and being kind.
It doesn't take an heroic personality to be kind to people who, based on first impressions, may or may not deserve it, but it's not without effort either.
In our increasingly busy and individualistic way of life it's just much easier to be annoyed.

Bill Potts is the first revival Companion who has zero ties with the Doctor, and also the least convincing as someone who wants to join this strange man on his various time and space journeys. She's thrilled to see all the alternative worlds but at the same time she accepts it with an almost childlike ease.
And perhaps in that regard series 10 has been the most retro-Who so far.

I don't mind boring as long as it doesn't look boring.
The episode "The Pyramid At The End Of The World" is an extremely convoluted plot to take over earth - simulating the whole of human history to see what the weakest point of the human species is, it's absolutely bonkers.
But the only serious sin of this episode is that all the characters look very bored.

The first episode itself is a terrific piece of television. Some find the other three episodes a bit middling

Actually I have watched the first story on one of those youtube copycats, Mimeo or Daily Votion, and I remember there was something interesting about the tribe, or maybe the way it was filmed.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I think I meant to say "excited about watching Classic Who in general" rather than the excitement of a particular story.

If I understand correctly, the programme was originally meant to be some kind of semi-educational entertainment rather than a flashy science fiction series.
Perhaps it was inevitable that the oldest of the revival Doctors took some of that classic premise, as we see Peter Capaldi teaching us the values of tolerance and being kind.
It doesn't take an heroic personality to be kind to people who, based on first impressions, may or may not deserve it, but it's not without effort either.
In our increasingly busy and individualistic way of life it's just much easier to be annoyed.

Bill Potts is the first revival Companion who has zero ties with the Doctor, and also the least convincing as someone who wants to join this strange man on his various time and space journeys. She's thrilled to see all the alternative worlds but at the same time she accepts it with an almost childlike ease.
And perhaps in that regard series 10 has been the most retro-Who so far.

I don't mind boring as long as it doesn't look boring.
The episode "The Pyramid At The End Of The World" is an extremely convoluted plot to take over earth - simulating the whole of human history to see what the weakest point of the human species is, it's absolutely bonkers.
But the only serious sin of this episode is that all the characters look very bored.


Actually I have watched the first story on one of those youtube copycats, Mimeo or Daily Votion, and I remember there was something interesting about the tribe, or maybe the way it was filmed.

You really need to buy The Beginning boxset on eBay or Amazon buddy.

Believe me Willie you won't regret it.

 

[Oh!Carol Christmasson]

You really need to buy The Beginning boxset on eBay or Amazon buddy.

Don't worry, I already have all the stories on DVD.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

The new season is about to begin.
RTD was rehired to repair the mess that Chibnall and Whitaker created, which included record low to near record low ratings and appreciation index figures,
in addition to significant declines in merchandising sales and a divided fanbase.
So far, RTD has been successful - ratings and appreciation index figures are improving, David Tennant returned, Ncuti Gatwa seems to be a good choice for the next doctor and the return of the Celestial Toymaker has been impactful, especially when the CT said that he had manipulated the Doctor's timeline. That would indicate that Chibnall's erroneous, contradictory origin story is in serious doubt, and the Doctor's "memories" are not certain.
Disney's involvement - bigger budget and more promotion. However Disney's recent history of failures with Marvel and Indiana Jones, not to mention how badly they have mishandled Star Wars, is an issue, especially if they start to interfere with the creative process.
Cautiously optimistic. We will see how the new episodes are received

 

[James from London]

I watched the new episodes this morning and really, really enjoyed them. Two brand new eps back to back: I don't think we've ever had before. It felt like Christmas! Turns out Saturday morning is an ideal time for Who: it's got that exciting watching-Saturday-morning-telly-when-you're-a-kid vibe. Ratings and merchandise and all those external things are largely irrelevant to me, and I can't remember a time when the fanbase wasn't divided. In fact, I don't think you can call yourself a fanbase unless you're upset about something. The experience of watching the show is pretty much all that matters to me.